Whenever You Call Series: I Don't Mind
by La Loba de Mibu
Summary: When Duo discovers one the children he’d helped get off the streets is in an abusive home, he takes some drastic measures to assure his safety. But how will Heero handle things? Pairing: 1x2


**Disclaimer:** I don't own them so don't sue me!!

**Arc:** _Whenever You Call_

**Story Title:** Step 6 – I Don't Mind

**Author:** La Loba de Mibu

**Rating:** PG-13

**Genre:** Shounen-ai, Romance, Drama

**Pairing:** 1x2

**Summary: **When Duo discovers one the children he'd helped get off the streets is in an abusive home, he takes some drastic measures to assure his safety. But how will Heero handle things?

**Word Count:** 4400

**Author Notes:** This fic takes place in the _Whenever You Call_ universe. It is set quite a few months after "_Warmth_," and is directly related to the content in _**Step 3—What the Rain Knows**_, so reading it will improve understanding of this step.

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Whenever You Call – _I Don't Mind_

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"There ya go, Blue," Duo said as he handed her an ice cream cone.

He and his gaggle of children turned away from the ice cream stand and walked down the gravel path back towards there spot in the picnic area. The Gundam family, with some prodding from Duo and Quatre, had gathered together for a horribly mundane barbecue at the city park on a Sunday afternoon. Former pilots 02 and 04 were quite the lethal combination of reasonable pleading and incessant nagging, and they _always_ got whatever they were after. Really, a picnic wasn't that far-fetched; normal people did it everyday.

Yet as so much else in their lives, normal was just out of the question. For starters, it was decided that every one of the pilots would be allowed to extend an invitation of their choice to someone outside the Gundam quintet, to rather alarming results.

Quatre invited Rashid, who brought along with him a few more of his boisterous Maganacs. Trowa had been working on a case with Milliardo, to whom he graciously extended his invitation; everyone knew wherever Milliardo went, Noin was never too far behind. Wufei invited Sally, and much to the party's bewilderment, Sally turned around and invited Une; _Commander_ Une. It was more than a little disturbing to the off-duty agents to see the usually stern and intimidating Commander-in-Chief of Preventers show up in civvies with her hair loose and framing her face, her glasses no where to be found, and a sweet smile gracing her features. Heero naturally invited Relena, who showed up with no small amount of fanfare in a pink limousine along with Dorothy at her side.

Last was Duo, whose invitees peaked more than a little curiosity and confusion. Duo had called up the new foster parents of the four young children he had kept meticulous tabs on since that miserably water logged day several months ago, and asked for permission to take the youngsters for a day. He arrived an hour after everyone else with four young, overly excited misfits who asked too many questions and hadn't quite developed proper grammar yet. No one save Heero knew how the former Deathscythe pilots had come to be associated or why he'd chosen them as his invitees.

"What's the matter Tootsie?" Duo asked when he saw the girl making a sour face at her ice cream cone.

"It tastes funny," she complained, scrunching up here freckled nose.

"I told ya, ya wudn't like pastacho," Patch said in a slightly reprimanding tone, poking the girl's cheek. Even if they were no longer on the streets, he would always be the leader of their little gang.

"_Pistachio_," Duo corrected with a chuckle, "And it's fine. You like chocolate, right Tootsie? Here, we'll trade."

He switched ice creams with the little girl just as they arrived at their table, or rather tables. The unnervingly gracious twin of their commander was chatting with Relena and Dorothy over tea. Milliardo, Noin and Heero were in the middle of an old case discussion as they picked at the multitude of snacks set on one of the tables. Everyone else was standing by the large grill Trowa was manning an amused smile on his face. Abdul was in the middle of telling Sally and Wufei a rather – if Quatre's beet red face and sputtering were anything to go by—embarrassing story at his former leader's expense. When Quatre spotted the children, he saw his chance to end his mortification.

"So then Master Quatre said—" Abdul suddenly found his mouth full of napkins.

"This story is none too appropriate for children so why don't we talk about something else now, hmm?" Quatre spoke sweetly, his face still awfully red, but there was an edge of warning in his voice that made Abdul nervously nod and wave his hands in a placating gesture, "Duo, your timing's perfect, the food almost done!"

"Aren't those going to ruin their appetite?" Sally pointed out as she noted the ice cream cones.

"Trust me. We're gonna have to fight to make sure they don't eat everything in sight," Duo smiled at the kids, "Idn't that right, guys?"

"I could eat like a elephant!" Hop proudly proclaimed in answer.

"Well, we'll see about that soon, won't we?" Trowa replied wryly, "The food's done."

The large group gathered round and everyone helped themselves to the feast, pushing two tables together and sitting down to enjoy their meal. They talked and laughed and were surprised to see that Duo hadn't been exaggerating. The kids ate as if it were their first meal in days and weren't sure when their next would come. They relished it noisily and at the same time inhaled it with a desperation most of them had never witnessed much to their confusion. Only Heero and Duo knew the reason why they did so, but politely rejected several inquiring looks and nonchalant queries for answers.

But soon, as hyperactivity from large overdoses of sugar and caffeine set in, the kids began regaling the group with wild stories about their misadventures on the street, inadvertently supplying the answer to the question hanging in the air while making the adults around them smile wide and occasionally roar with laughter. Hop was particularly animated, and as a tale of one if his particularly daring triumphs began, he waved his arms passionately.

"And then, and then, when he turned 'round, I went— BAM!!" Hop punctuated his sentence by swinging his arms above his head suddenly bringing his clasped hands down to bang on the table roughly. The action however was followed by a small amount of chaos.

Hop unfortunately slammed his hands down on the end of the fork in his plate and promptly set a small portion of potato salad flying across the table straight into Blue's face. The young girl yelped and brought her arms up to shield her face, knocking over a pitcher of soda. The brown sugary liquid rushed across the length of the table, soaking various people's meals as well as the clothes of those who didn't stand up in time.

Suddenly Ahmad burst out into howling laughter as he pointed at Abdul's dark stained pants in a very questionable area, "That's what you get for embarrassing Master Quatre!"

The laughter spread, and everyone set about drying the mess on the table, and throwing out the ruined soggy food. Relena was busying trying to wring out as much of the soda soaking the very end of her fine silk skirt as she could when she was approached by a sullen Hop.

"Uh, umm … m'sorry lady," he handed her some napkins, and sniffled slightly. Relena blinked, and looked down at the ruin mess of her skirt before smiling kindly at the little boy.

"Oh nonsense, don't you worry about a thing. It's just a little stain. Actually, I have a change of clothes in the car, dear. So it's all right," she explained airily, but the little boy was sniffling as he stared at the ground, "Oh dear, please don't be upset."

She reached out to place a placating hand on the child's head, when Hop suddenly flinched hard and screeched.

"I'm sorry!" he wailed and cowered in front of the bewildered politician. The group suddenly went dead quiet and stilled for a tense moment, before Duo approached.

"C'mere with me for a minute, Hop. Everything's fine, really," Duo spoke gently as he took the boy's hand and led him away from the now quiet group. The other kids were looking worriedly after their former gangmate, and the adults moved slowly in awkward silence. Duo looked over his shoulder pointedly at Quatre.

"Who's up for some dessert?" Quatre asked loudly, and the people gathered suddenly became busy again as he walked away with Hop.

He took them to stand behind a large tree far enough away from the group that they could hear conversation going on but couldn't make out anything distinctly. The child standing before him was tense and stock still, eyes trained on the ground, with the occasional sniffle. Duo was distressed to realize Hop was terrified.

"Hop? Why are you so scared?" he asked gently.

When a small tremor traveled through the boy, Duo knelt down in front of him so that he was no longer looming over him. He waited as Hop swallowed convulsively, and bit back a sob, rubbing his hands together nervously. The gesture woke an anger in Duo that had not been disturbed since the end of the war, but he firmly held it in check. If he let Shinigami's wrath surface, even when not directed at the youngster, he'd only frighten him more. Instead he moved slowly, giving Hop time to see his intended actions, and placed his hands on the little boy's shoulders, bending down lower to look into his teary face.

"Hop. You know I'd never hurt you, no matter what."

Suddenly Duo found his arms full of a sobbing little boy, and he felt a little piece of his heart break at having his suspicion confirmed. He comforted the boy, and set about getting the whole story out of him, all the while berating himself mentally for not having kept a closer watch on him.

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"Yea, I'm _**absolutely**_ sure it's no trouble at all," Duo said with an edge that made the murmuring voice on the other end of the line quiet for a moment before mumbling in parting.

Duo hung up the phone without another word, and resisted the urge to fling it across the vehicle. He instead put it down a bit forcefully on the seat. He was in the back of the car with Hop beside him, and Heero driving up front. After they had dropped off the other kids, Duo had quietly informed him when he asked where Hop lived, that Hop was going to spend the night with them, before calling up Hop's foster parents to inform them as well.

At the next red light, Heero turned to give him a questioning look, noting the anger quietly bubbling under the calm joking façade he was putting on for Hop's benefit, but Duo only mouthed the word 'later' to him. Still, Heero had no reason to doubt him, and the few reasons he could think of for the child to need to spend the night with them considering the day's events, were not very good ones. Heero frowned in thought as he drove them the rest of the way home.

When they reached the apartment, it was already dark, so they decided to get comfortable even if they didn't go to bed right away. Duo pulled out a pajama top from his drawers and led Hop to the bathroom for a bath. He'd never been so livid in his life, and yet be unable to show it. The boy's pale skin was mottled with bruises in areas that would all be conveniently covered by clothes.

After the bath, Duo made some popcorn and let Hop choose a movie. He chose one about a fish searching the ocean for his son with his memory impaired friend. They sat and watched it together while Heero showered. When he came out he traded places with Duo and sat with the boy while the long-haired man took his turn in the bath. By the time he came out the movie was nearly over and Hop was nodding off. He managed to stay awake until the end, and then before he could argue, Duo declared it bedtime. They brushed their teeth, and then Duo stopped at the door to his room, waving Heero ahead of him. He led Hop inside and tucked him into the bed he no longer used.

"We're just across the hall, okay?" Duo told him, moving the dirty blonde hair from his forehead, "If you need anything, _anything_ at all, just come get me, kay?"

Hop nodded, "G'nite."

"G'nite kiddo," Duo said with a warm smile, and tucked the blankets around him, shutting off the light as he left the room. He left the door open just a crack, and the hall light on for good measure.

But the smile on his face faded as he walked into Heero's bedroom, which had somehow over the course of the past months become his as well. As he entered, Heero looked up from the laptop he was working on and watched Duo sit on his side of the bed to fume quietly. Heero knew he wanted to rant, to let his anger out. But if he did, it would be loud, and Hop, lying in the other room, certainly didn't need to hear Duo lose his temper. He could get pretty violent, as witnessed every now and then by harmless innocent knickknacks around the room when he sent them crashing into the floor or walls. He'd broken his window once; the landlord had been none too amused.

Heero reached over and tapped him on the shoulder, motioning Duo closer when he turned. With an obliging sigh Duo crawled up the bed and sat against the headboard, curling close and resting his head on Heero's shoulder. Heero placed an arm lightly around him, and turned back to his laptop, waiting for the explanation that would come sooner or later.

"I should've known. I should've gotten him out of there sooner."

Or berating; that was common, too. At least his suspicion was now confirmed as well.

"You've kept such meticulous tabs on those kids, that if the parents knew, they'd have filed for a restraining order," Heero turned to frown at Duo, intent on banishing any ridiculous notions of liability Duo felt.

But Duo was too busy playing with the end of his braid to look at him. Heero shrugged the shoulder Duo's head rested on to get him to look up. When he did, his violet eyes were sad and haunted. The frown darkening his features softened and he touched his forehead to Duo's.

"We'll look after him until we find him a new family; one that we can know for sure won't hurt him again," Heero declared, and saw surprise in his Duo's eyes.

"But that means I'll have to play Dad," Duo said jokingly, then added with a smirk, "And you'll have to play Mom."

"I don't mind," came the deadpan answer that made Duo blink in surprise.

"Are you sure about this?" Duo asked uncertainly.

"Absolutely," Heero answered and leaned down to brush their lips together. Duo pulled him closer with a hand behind his neck and deepened the kiss.

"Thank you," he breathed as he pulled back.

"You can thank me after we press charges on the Johnsons. They've got _quite_ the record," Heero gestured at the laptop screen.

Duo took one look at the screen before Heero found himself tackled into another enthusiastic kiss that almost made him drop his precious laptop on the floor.

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Several nights later, Duo's sleep was disturbed by all small hand shaking his shoulder. With a small snort, Duo started awake to find Hop standing before him, drowning in one of Duo's old pajama tops, sporting a dark stain in the front.

"I wet the bed again," Hop's voice hitched as he rubbed at a teary eye. Duo placed a hand on his head gently.

"It's okay kiddo. C'mon, let's get ya cleaned up."

He disentangled himself from Heero and got up to give the child a quick washing and fish out a clean pajama to replace the soiled one. Within a few minutes, Hop was clean and dry and being lead down the hall to Heero's room. He got back into bed and held the blankets up for Hop to jump in after him. The child curled into a little ball against Duo's chest and fell asleep almost immediately. Duo pulled the blankets around them and shut his eyes too, but didn't fall asleep until he felt Heero shift closer to him again, and settle his arm loosely around his waist.

The morning rays that snaked their way through Heero's window the next morning found only two figures to rudely awaken. Heero sighed as consciousness slowly cleared the blank fog of sleep from his mind and reached over to pull Duo closer, only to find the bed beside him cold and bereft of his favorite bed warmer.

That's right. Duo had a meeting with social services that morning. The one bad thing about putting the gang of street kids into the system was that they then had to go by the system's rules, mostly; Heero had hacked their way to the meeting Duo was currently at, otherwise it would have taken months. But if Duo was gone, that meant . . . Heero opened his eyes to see Hop sitting up in bed chewing on his pajama sleeve.

"You snore," the child stated matter-of-factly.

"I do not," Heero grumbled, voice a bit hoarse from disuse, "How long have you been awake?"

"Since Duo left."

Heero frowned, "Oh . . . uh, I guess I should make breakfast . . ."

Heero got out of the bed and walked down the hall to brush his teeth. When he stepped out of the bathroom, Hop was there waiting for him, still chewing on his sleeve. Heero headed into the kitchen and began preparing some French toast; the little boy had seemed quite fond of it last time he made it. Hop shadowed him into the room and sat at the kitchen table to kick impatiently at a table leg until breakfast was served. When a plate full of syrupy bread was placed in front of him, he dug in with relish and ate at an alarming speed. He'd polished off his plate before Heero was even halfway through his own and promptly asked for seconds. Heero served him another two slices, and as he finished his plate, Hop burped loudly and asked for thirds.

"You've had enough," Heero said calmly, picking up their plates to wash them at the sink.

He refused the boy, not out of cruelty or stinginess, but out of habit and necessity. Heero had come to learn through living with Duo, that because of never knowing when the next meal would come, street kids developed terrible binging habits. It never really died, and was hard to control, even for someone like Duo who had been off the streets and in a more stable— at least where food was concerned— environment for years. The young man still ate preposterous amounts of food for his slight build, but he had learned for the most part to force himself to stop at three servings; even if his instincts still screamed at him to keep going. Every now and then though, if he skipped lunch at the office, or if he was eating something he really enjoyed, he'd simply forget himself and keep eating, and eating, and _eating_.

So in order to prevent an unpleasant meeting with the toilet bowl later, Heero knew he had to put his foot down and take away the food. Hop didn't fuss about it, at least. But as he placed the dishes in the rack to dry and turned back around, he was faced with the challenge of entertaining a small boy he hadn't been alone with since he'd arrived a week prior until however long it took Duo to get back. He resisted the urge to sigh, and thought until the perfect solution finally struck him.

"Wanna play video games?" Heero asked, and when the boy's eyes lit up, he knew he'd asked the right thing.

Heero spent the rest of the day rotating through the practically endless collection of games he and Duo owned; showing Hop secret paths, and hidden items, and special techniques. Every now and then they'd put in a fighting game, but Heero knew instinctively that he shouldn't pound him like he did to Duo, and instead let the boy win more often than not. At lunch they paused to eat, and Heero got them dressed; he never liked spending a whole day in his pajamas.

Sometime around mid-afternoon Duo returned and by the smile on his face, Heero knew the meeting had gone well. Changing out of his formal business suit into something more comfortable, he joined them on the floor in front of the television and they passed him a control.

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"Catherine! Over here!" Duo waved the woman over as he spotted her in the plaza outside the city docks. She waved to them and then motioned for a couple behind her to follow.

The meeting Duo had gone to a few days prior had been to negotiate with Social services on Hop's adoption by a rather unconventional pair. When Duo had set about finding Hop a home, he decided that he should skip the foster care altogether and find the boy a more permanent family. Not three days into his search for a well-reputed orphanage, he'd received a call from Quatre. Apparently, the trapeze artists from Trowa's circus had been looking to adopt for years, but their hectic lifestyle as circus performers had brought them no luck in getting approved to adopt. They could kill two birds with one stone if they could just get Social services to approve the pair; and with a little charm and finagling on Duo's part he'd done so.

"Hello Duo, Heero. This is Mr. and Mrs. Von Strauss," Catherine introduced the pair standing beside her to the pilots, and then turned to the child, "And this is Hop."

Hop stared up at his potential family, and watched as the pretty blonde lady kneeled in front of him and smiled warmly at the young boy, who blushed slightly.

"My! What a handsome young man you are, Hop. Sounds like there is a story behind that name," she said, her voice was kind and gentle.

"My friend gave it ta me," the boy explained a bit nervously, "It's cuz I'm da best jumper on da whole Southside, but he said dat 'Jumper' sounded stupid, so I'm Hop."

"Is that so? Well, we know a thing or two about jumping ourselves," Mr. Von Strauss spoke up, smiling kindly at the boy, "Perhaps we could exchange a few trade secrets?"

Hops looked from the kind looking man standing over him, to the gentling smiling woman kneeling in front of him, and couldn't hold back a smile of his own.

"I'd like dat," he said softly.

"Well, then kiddo, it's time for goodbyes," Duo piped up, and kneeled in front of Hop as well, "You be good, and keep in touch with everybody, ya hear? You know Patch'll have your head if you don't."

"Aww, I can take him!" Hop declared with a giggle, then hugged Duo close, "Thanks, Duo."

"Take care of yourself, kid," Duo replied and stood up, smiling. He was going to miss the little tyke around the apartment.

Turning to Heero he cleared his throat, to encourage a parting from him; thinking he might have to do it for the other man, when Heero suddenly stepped forward of his own volition. He surprised Duo further by pulling out a small brown paper package and silently handing it to a shocked Hop. The boy took it, with a questioning look.

"Open it," Heero said simply.

The boy set the package down on the bench they had been sitting on and ripped off the paper quickly, squealing in excitement when he finally saw that it was a portable hand-held game system, complete with accessories and half a dozen games. He turned to Heero with a huge grin.

"I thought you might li—" Heero was stunned into silence when Hop suddenly hugged him by the waist with a shout of thanks; he froze for a moment before awkwardly patting him on the head, and saying, "Your welcome."

The group bade their final goodbyes, and Hop left with Catherine and his new parents, heading towards the docks and the circus' ship waiting there. Heero and Duo drove home and arrived a few hours later to an apartment that suddenly seemed to quiet and empty without the little boy. Rather then spend time noticing the stillness, they showered and turned in for bed early. One caress led to another, and soon their cries of pleasure filled the silence left behind in Hop's wake.

Duo hummed softly as Heero pulled him close afterwards, feeling sore but delightfully sated. He snuggled against his lover, peppering little kisses over his neck. Heero sighed in pleasure, and pulled Duo up for a long lazy kiss. The sleepy pair soon found themselves drifting off, or at least Duo was until Heero's deep voice roused him if slightly from his doze.

"Duo?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't snore . . ."

Duo blinked his eyes open and looked up at Heero's face, his tired mind wondering where Heero was going with this.

". . . Do I?"

Heero, Duo decided, was infinitely adorable when pouting doubtfully. He replied with an utterly mischievous smile.

"Only a little. I don't mind."

The subtle look of horrified shock on Heero's face was quite possibly the funniest thing Duo had ever seen.

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--Owari--


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